Raised fist#Salute

File:Honore Daumier The Uprising.jpg of the French Revolution of 1848 includes a possible early example of a "political clenched fist", according to curator Francesca Seravalle.{{Cite web|last=Seravalle|first=Francesca|date=2017|title=The Fist Photos: On the Polysemy of the Fist|url=https://phmuseum.com/francesca_seravalle/story/the-fist-photos-on-the-polysemy-of-the-fist-d883b7a4f9|access-date=July 2, 2019|website=Photographic Museum of Humanity}}]]

File:Munkások! Polgarok!.jpg

The origin of the raised fist as either a symbol or gesture is unclear. Its use in trade unionism, anarchism, and the labor movement had begun by the 1910s. William "Big Bill" Haywood, a founding member of the Industrial Workers of the World, used the metaphor of a fist as something greater than the sum of its parts during a speech at the 1913 Paterson silk strike.{{Cite book|last=Gurley Flynn|first=Elizabeth|title=Memories of the Industrial Workers of the World|publisher=American Institute for Marxist Studies|year=1977|location=New York|pages=6}} Journalist and socialist activist John Reed described hearing a similar description from a participant in the strike.{{Cite journal |last=Reed |first=John |date=June 1913 |title=War in Paterson |url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/reed/1913/masses06.htm |journal=The Masses}} A large raised fist rising from a crowd of striking workers was used to promote a mass strike in Budapest in 1912.{{Cite journal|last=Simmons|first=Sherwin|date=2000|title='Hand to the Friend, Fist to the Foe': The Struggle of Signs in the Weimar Republic|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3527066|journal=Journal of Design History|volume=13|issue=4|pages=319–339|doi=10.1093/jdh/13.4.319|jstor=3527066|issn=0952-4649|url-access=subscription}} In the United States, clenched fist was described by the magazine Mother Earth as "symbolical of the social revolution" in 1914.{{Cite journal |last=Berkman |first=Alexander |date=July 1914 |title=The Lexington Explosion |url=https://libcom.org/files/Mother%20Earth%20v09.05.pdf |journal=Mother Earth |volume=IX |pages=155 |via=Libcom.org}}

The use of the fist as a salute by communists and antifascists is first evidenced in 1924, when it was adopted for the Communist Party of Germany's Roter Frontkämpferbund ("Alliance of Red Front-Fighters"). In reaction, the Nazi Party adopted the well-known Roman salute two years later.{{Cite journal|last=Korff|first=Gottfried|date=Fall 1992|title=From Brotherly Handshake to Militant Clenched Fist: On Political Metaphors for the Worker's Hand|jstor=27672022|journal=International Labor and Working-Class History|volume=42|pages=77|doi=10.1017/S0147547900011236|s2cid=144046575 }} The gesture of the raised fist was apparently known in the United States as well, and is seen in a photograph from a May Day march in New York City in 1936.{{Cite web |date=May 1, 2019 |title=May 1 Labour Day: What is International Workers' Day? |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/04/day-international-workers-day-170429074724991.html |access-date=July 2, 2020 |website=Al Jazeera}} It is perhaps best known in this era from its use during the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939, as a greeting by the Republican faction, and known as the "Popular Front salute" or the "anti-fascist salute".{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17739105 |title=Breivik: What's behind clenched-fist salutes? |last=Kelly |first=Jon |date=17 April 2012 |website=bbc.co.uk |access-date=7 July 2018}}

File:Spanish War Children (restored).png (1930s), some giving the Republican salute. The Republicans showed a raised right fist whereas the Nationalists gave the Roman salute.{{cite book |last1=Calleja |first1=Eduardo Gonzále |chapter=The symbolism of violence during the Second Republic in Spain, 1931–1936 |title=The Splintering of Spain |chapter-url={{Google books|ypBS6N0aFJgC|page=23|plainurl=yes}} |pages=23–44 |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511497025.005 |editor1-first=Chris |editor1-last=Ealham |editor-link1=Chris Ealham|editor2-first=Michael |editor2-last=Richards |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-511-49702-5 |quote=The Roman salute characteristic of Italian fascism was first adopted by the PNE and the JONS, later spreading to the Falange and other extreme right groups, before it became the official salute in Franco's Spain. The JAP salute, which consisted of stretching the right arm horizontally to touch the left shoulder enjoyed only relatively little acceptance. The gesture of the raised right fist, so widespread among left-wing workers' groups, gave rise to more regimented variations, such as the salute with the fist on one's temple, characteristic of the German Rotfront, which was adopted by the republican Popular Army. }}]]

The graphic symbol was popularised in 1948 by Taller de Gráfica Popular, a print shop in Mexico that used art to advance revolutionary social causes.{{cite web|url=http://www.docspopuli.org/articles/Bancroft/BANC_PIC_2001_206.html|title=Mexican posters on social and educational themes|work=docspopuli.org|access-date=16 January 2017|archive-date=5 May 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070505190037/http://www.docspopuli.org/articles/Bancroft/BANC_PIC_2001_206.html|url-status=dead}} Its use spread through the United States in the 1960s after artist and activist Frank Cieciorka produced a simplified version for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee: this version was subsequently used by Students for a Democratic Society and the Black Power movement.{{cite web |url=https://www.aiga.org/not-your-grandparent-s-clenched-fist |title=Not Your Grandparent's Clenched Fist |last=Patton |first=Phil |date=10 January 2006 |website=American Institute of Graphic Arts |access-date=7 July 2018 |archive-date=9 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110909052316/https://www.aiga.org/not-your-grandparent-s-clenched-fist |url-status=dead }}

The raised right fist was frequently used in posters produced during the May 1968 revolt in France, such as La Lutte continue, depicting a factory chimney topped with a clenched fist.{{cite web |url=http://en.rfi.fr/20180404-culture-france-may-68-posters-show-where-they-were-made-beaux-arts-paris |title=France May 68: the art of revolution |last=Hird |first=Alison |date=4 April 2018 |website=rfi.fr |access-date=7 July 2018}}{{cite journal |last1=Considine |first1=Liam |date=Autumn 2015 |title=Screen Politics: Pop Art and the Atelier Populaire |url=https://www.tate.org.uk/research/publications/tate-papers/24/screen-politics-pop-art-and-the-atelier-populaire |journal=Tate Papers |issn=1753-9854 |issue=24 |access-date=7 July 2018 }}{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/04/arts/design/may-1968-paris.html |title=Printing a Revolution: The Posters of Paris '68 |last=Rubin |first=Alissa J. |author-link=Alissa J. Rubin |date=4 May 2018 |website=NYTimes.com |access-date=4 May 2018}}

Robin Morgan designed the feminist symbol of a raised fist within the Venus symbol for a protest of the 1969 Miss America pageant, where it was popularized.Felder, Deborah G. [https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_American_Women_s_Almanac/ELq9DwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22venus+symbol+of+a+female+but+with+a+raised+fist%22&pg=PT193&printsec=frontcover The American Women's Almanac: 500 Years of Making History]. United States: Visible Ink Press, 2020.Davis, Ben. [https://www.google.com/books/edition/Art_in_the_After_Culture/R-JaEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22robin+morgan+as+a+graphic+for+a+protest%22&pg=PT88&printsec=frontcover Art in the After-Culture: Capitalist Crisis and Cultural Strategy]. United Kingdom: Haymarket Books, 2022.

A raised fist incorporating the outline of the state of Wisconsin, as designed in 2011, is meant for union protests against the state rescinding collective bargaining.{{cite web|url=http://wisaflcio.typepad.com/wisconsin-state-afl-cio-blog/2011/12/the-blue-fist.html|title=The Story Behind the Blue Fist - Wisconsin State AFL-CIO Blog|work=Typepad |access-date=16 January 2017}}

The raised fist logo generally carries the same symbolism as a hand gesture. It was an important symbol of workers rights and labor movements, as well as specific labor actions, such as strikes, boycotts, and walk-outs.

Notable examples include the fist and rose, a white fist holding a red rose, used by the Socialist International and some socialist or social democratic parties, such as the French Socialist Party and the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party. The fist can represent ethnic solidarity, such as in the Black Power fist of Black nationalism and the Black Panther Party, a Black Marxist group in the 1960s,{{Cite web|url=https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/workers/black-panthers/|title=Black Panther Party|website=www.marxists.org}} or the White Power fist of White nationalism.{{cite web|title=Anti-Defamation League - Aryan Fist|url=https://www.adl.org/education/references/hate-symbols/aryan-fist}} A Black fist logo was also adopted by the northern soul music subculture. Loyalists in Northern Ireland occasionally use a red clenched fist on murals depicting the Red Hand of Ulster, which is also featured on the flag of Ulster.{{cite web |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/life/features/does-northern-ireland-need-red-hand-sculpture-28535157.html |title=Does Northern Ireland need Red Hand sculpture? |work=Belfast Telegraph |date=2010-05-10 |access-date=2020-07-23}} Irish republicans, on the other hand, have been seen displaying raised fists.{{cite book |last1=Whalen |first1=L. |title=Contemporary Irish Republican Prison Writing Writing and Resistance |date=2007 |publisher=Palgrave MacMillan US |page=91}}

The image gallery shows how a raised fist is used in visual communication. Combined with another graphic element, a raised fist is used to convey polysemous gestures and opposing forces.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hat4PMRx7lUC&q=raised+fist&pg=PA28|title=Elements of Meaning in Gesture|first=Geneviève|last=Calbris|date=1 January 2011|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing|isbn=978-9027228475|access-date=16 January 2017|via=Google Books}} Depending on the elements combined, the meaning of the gesture changes in tone and intention. For example, a hammer and sickle combined with a raised right fist is part of communist symbolism, while the same right fist combined with a Venus symbol represents Feminism, and combined with a book, it represents some librarians who oppose digital rights management. The Gonzo fist emblem, characterized by two thumbs and four fingers holding a peyote button, was originally used in Hunter S. Thompson's 1970 campaign for sheriff of Aspen, Colorado. It has become a symbol of Thompson and gonzo journalism as a whole.

The Unicode character for the raised fist is {{unichar|270A}}.

File:The hand that will rule the world.jpg|Solidarity cartoon 1917

File:Civil Liberties in War Times by Max Lerner 1940.jpg|Civil liberties poster 1940

File:Fist .svg|Painted symbol of the Power Fist

File:PvdA logo roos in vuist.svg|Fist and rose

File:Womanpower logo.svg|Feminism

File:Symbol of masculism.png|Masculism

File:Gonzo.svg|alt=A red fist with thumbs on both sides clutches a peyote button.|The "Gonzo fist"

File:Otpor-serbian.jpg|Otpor!

File:Flag of Kach and Kahane Chai.svg|Kach and Kahane Chai

File:Piotr Uklanski - Untitled (Fist).jpg|Piotr Uklański, Untitled (Fist) 2008

File:LibrariansAgainstDRM.svg|Librarians Against DRM

File:Racist Aryan Fist or White Power Fist used by white supremacists.svg|White power fist, used by white nationalists and white supremacists, popularised by the band Skrewdriver.

Different movements sometimes use different terms to describe the raised fist salute: amongst communists and socialists, raised right fist is sometimes called the red salute, whereas in the United States it is widely known as the Black Power salute due to use by many African-American activists. The Rotfrontkämpferbund paramilitary organization of Communist Party of Germany used the right hand fist salute as early as 1924.Korff, Gottfried: "Symbolgeschichte als Sozialgeschichte? Zehn vorläufige Notizen zu den Bild- und Zeichensystemen sozialer Bewegungen in Deutschland", in: Warneken, Bernd Jürgen (Hg.): "Massenmedium Strasse. Zur Kulturgeschichte der Demonstrationen." Frankfurt/Main 1991. S. 27–28. Cited in: Schulte-Rummel, Sven "Die politische Symbolik der Kommunistischen Partei Deutschlands in der Weimarer Republlik" [http://www.hausarbeiten.de/faecher/vorschau/95026.html].

"Im Gegensatz zu den meisten anderen Symbolen der Kommunisten beginnt die Geschichte der geballten Faust in der Ära der Weimarer Republik. Sie war prägendes Symbol bei Straßenaufmärschen, Spiegel der gewaltbereiten Demonstranten, die voller Frust über das System dem Staat die geballte Faust zeigten." Translation: "Unlikely the most of other Communists symbols, the history of Raised right fist started in the era of Weimar Republic. It was a definitive symbol of street marches, reflection of the marchers who were ready for violence, who were disappointed by the whole system of the state and showed their clenched fists to it." By this time, the Soviet Union had already established the use of a traditional Russian military salute. During the Spanish Civil War, it was sometimes known as the anti-fascist salute. A letter from the Spanish Civil War stated: "...the raised fist which greets you in Salud is not just a gesture—it means life and liberty being fought for and a greeting of solidarity with the democratic peoples of the world."Rolfe, Mary. Letter to Leo Hurwitz and Janey Dudley, 25 November 1938. Reprinted in Cary Nelson and Jefferson Hendricks, eds. "Madrid 1937: Letters of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade from the Spanish Civil War," Routledge: 1996. [http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/scw/letters.htm]

At the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, medal winners John Carlos and Tommie Smith gave the raised fist salute during the American national anthem as a sign of black power, and as a protest on behalf of the Olympic Project for Human Rights. They were banned from further Olympic activities by the IOC, as the rules then in place prohibited any political statements at the Olympics. The event was one of the most overtly political statements{{cite news | url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2094-2393575,00.html | archive-url=https://archive.today/20070311090713/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2094-2393575,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=March 11, 2007 | publisher=The Sunday Times | last=Lewis | first=Richard | date=2006-10-08 | title=Caught in Time: Black Power salute, Mexico, 1968 | access-date=2008-11-09 | location=London}} in the history of the modern Olympic Games. Tommie Smith stated in his autobiography, "Silent Gesture", that the salute was not a Black Power salute, but in fact a human rights salute.[https://books.google.com/books?id=XGA7LZuDbbgC Silent Gesture – Autobiography of Tommie Smith] (excerpt via Google Books) – Smith, Tommie & Steele, David, Temple University Press, 2007, {{ISBN|978-1-59213-639-1}} pg. 22 quotes: "To this very day, the gesture made on the victory stand is described as Black Power salute; it was not." "We were students, and we were dedicated to the Olympic Project for Human Rights."

Nelson Mandela also used the clenched right fist salute upon his release from Victor Verster Prison in 1990.

The raised right fist is used by officials in People's Republic of China when being sworn into office.{{cite web|url=http://english.gov.cn/premier/news/2016/09/18/content_281475445040096.htm |date=Sep 18, 2016 |title=State Council holds first swearing-in ceremony to uphold Constitution|work=The State Council of the People's Republic of China |access-date=16 January 2017}}

Psychologist Oliver James has suggested that the appeal of the salute is that it allows the individual to indicate that they "intend to meet malevolent, massive institutional force with force of (their) own", and that they are bound in struggle with others against common oppression.

File:Mlada partizanka.jpg|The raised fist was the official salute of communist partisan armies throughout the Balkans during World War II, as performed by this Yugoslav partisan.

File:John Carlos, Tommie Smith, Peter Norman 1968cr.jpg|Gold medalist Tommie Smith (center) and bronze medalist John Carlos (right) showing the raised fist on the podium after the 200 m race at the 1968 Summer Olympics

Image:Raised Fist at antiwar demo.jpg|February 15, 2003: A woman raises her right fist in solidarity with protestors opposing the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

File:George Floyd protest in Grand Army Plaza June 7 (73353).jpg|George Floyd protest, 2020

{{div col}}

• 1968 Olympics Black Power salute
• 1972 Olympics Black Power salute
• Black Lives Matter
• Bras d'honneur
• Civil disobedience
• "Death to fascism, freedom to the people"
• Fist and rose
• "Hands up, don't shoot"
• Lal Salam
• Taking the knee

{{div col end}}

{{reflist}}

{{commons category|Clenched fist symbols|Raised fist}}

• [http://www.docspopuli.org/articles/Fist.html A brief history of the 'clenched fist' image] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201206105310/http://www.docspopuli.org/articles/Fist.html |date=2020-12-06 }}
• [http://smh.com.au/olympics/articles/2004/06/18/1089484304254.html Bitter price of Olympics' iconic image] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120418190539/http://www.smh.com.au/olympics/articles/2004/06/18/1089484304254.html |date=2012-04-18 }} – from Los Angeles Daily News
• [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5071784.stm India Faces Maoist 'Red Salute'] – from BBC World News
• [https://www.adl.org/education/references/hate-symbols/aryan-fist Aryan Fist article] – from the Anti-Defamation League
• Jenna Amatulli: [https://www.huffpost.com/entry/raised-fist-emoji-resistance_n_5899e39fe4b09bd304bd8ac9 The Raised Fist Emoji Is Social Media's Resistance Symbol]

{{Gestures|state=collapsed}}

Category:Hand gestures

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Category:Political symbols

Category:Salutes

Category:Symbols introduced in 1917